UNC admits to passing bad laws

THE United National Congress (UNC) publicly admitted that it passed some bad laws while it was in Government from 1995 to 2001.

This startling admission came on Wednesday from Pointe-a-Pierre MP Gillian Lucky during debate on the Extradition (Commonwealth and Foreign Territories) Order 2003 in Parliament. Lucky agreed with Attorney General Glenda Morean about the need to update the list of crimes which are classified as extraditable offences on a regular basis and the efforts of successive governments from 1985 to do just that. “Our legislation was significantly deficient in terms of the territories with which we had treaties dealing with extradition and the fact that much of our extradition law dated back to 1870. Over the time, with successive regimes what has been done, is there has actually been a strengthening of the legislation that deals with extradition. In this particular instance, no doubt what is being done is an expansion of a number of crimes which will now be susceptible to extradition orders.”

During her point about the need for “evidential compatibility” between Trinidad and Tobago’s laws and the laws of territories with which have extradition treaties or mutual extradition processes with TT, Lucky caused broad smiles to appear on the faces of several Government MPs. “In this particular legislation, it is sought to include offences under the Computer Misuse Act 2000. Right now, our laws that deal with the admissibility of computer evidence are incompatible with many of the other jurisdictions.” She revealed that the UNC legislation was patterned after flawed legislation in the United Kingdom. “When we passed our Administration of Justice Act that also deals with the admissibility of computer evidence, the reality is we followed unfortunately flawed legislation because the new legislation in England which now amended that flaw was done after the passage of our legislation,” Lucky stated. The UNC MP also spoke about the need “to keep apace of the evidential technologies”, noting that in Britain, provisions exist in law for televised court proceedings “so cross-examination can take place across the seas”.  Lucky also called for a proper, computerised database system to help police track down persons trying to escape justice. Deputy Speaker Hedwidge Bereaux was forced to criticise Government MPs Colm Imbert, Dr Keith Rowley and Camille Robinson-Regis and Opposition MP Chandresh Sharma for engaging in cross-talk while Lucky was on her feet.